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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

www.codeschool.com just announced its new course for Facebook front end development framework – react. React has received a lot of hype into 2015 and 2016. It's one of the most rising popular frameworks backed by Facebook. Demmings Facebook engineers are actively using this framework and supporting it. It is an open-source project so anyone can see and contribute. https://facebook.github.io/react/

Friday, April 22, 2016

There's no need to found a real startup to make a social impact or test out the market for product-market-fit. MTV made a fake website called White Squad to raise social awareness for white privilege (and the mirror side of minority suffering in the society, social inequality). White Squad offers fictitious protection service, business representation & negotiation, civil rights protection service for immigrants and minority citizens of the United States who may be otherwise treated unfairly or disadvantaged by their skin color and ethnic background (the fictitious website's target users). When a visitor clicks on the call-to-action, the "hoax" will be revealed and there will be statement saying this website is for raising awareness.

The website is well-made, well-designed, has all the key elements of a strong "splash page" or a sales landing page. It's a good cause and a really good example for testing out a product .

When the website first came out a while back, it was also a good example of marketing, raising awareness using humor and "April Fool's Day joke / fictitious features" (popularized by Google)

Sample Job posting by stripe for Technical support

Thousands of businesses across the internet rely on Stripe to launch their products and get paid. We are mission-critical to them, and each individual and business uses Stripe in a different way.

We work with our users to answer questions and solve problems, then work with the rest of the team to ensure that those problems don't arise again. We like to do whatever it takes to make sure our users are taken care of.

Interacting through email, real-time chat, and phone, we guide developers and entrepreneurs along the process of creating paid products. We inform the direction of the Stripe product by understanding and improving how Stripe is used.

Stripe's support team manages itself independently and develops the processes we use to help our users. This means integrating and developing tools, attending and hosting events, and visiting Stripe users.

You

You As part of this role, you'll work with the outside world to help more businesses use Stripe. You'll work with developers, business owners, product managers, and finance and accounting staff. Payments problems can be complex with many stakeholders, and it will be your job to make sure everyone understands why Stripe makes sense.

You'll get a chance to share Stripe's culture in the wider community. We host events, attend conferences, sit down for coffee, and hang out in IRC. We try to write software worth talking about, and then talk about it.

You may like this job if:

You love to teach and meet new people.

You write quickly and clearly and enjoy writing.

You can solve open-ended problems, even when you're a little out of your depth.

You have a keen sense for seeing through the question being asked to the actual problem a user is having.

Applying

To apply, please email [masked email] with:

Your background and accomplishments.

Some information on why you want to work in this role.

Two improvements you'd make to Stripe.

A short piece on any topic you're passionate about.

The list of languages you'd be comfortable working in, if more than English.

Want to host your personal website or blog for free? Have you considered Github Pages? Professional developers use Github everyday, it's really worth it to learn to use Git and Github. Github Pages allow you to use Github flavored Markdown (a handy programming language, actually used by professional productive writers), write or blog, and host that static website in minutes for free. Check out the documentations

Monday, April 18, 2016

Swiftfy is an iOS app that teaches you Swift language basics right in your iPhone. When waiting in subway or for a bus, you can get some muscle memory going - practicing Swift "grammar", syntax on the go. It's sort of like Codecademy.com for your pocket.

Modal or a modern popup window is now an omnipresent startup front-end UI element. It's useful when prompting the user to login, subscribe to a newsletter, and take an exit offer.

Here's the basic hierarchy if using the Bootstrap framework:

modal hierarchy

modal

modal-dialog

modal-content

modal-header

modal-title

modal-body

modal-footer

data-dismiss="modal"

Not exactly concise. Because though small, the element has all the essential backbone of a full web page: header, body, footer, exit, and it usually handles a form with input and submit button. It's not a trivial element.

Put the mini form, such as a login form, and its submit button in the modal-body.

Monday, April 11, 2016

You finished the Codecademy.com JavaScript curriculum, congratulations! You might have learned a lot but still don't know how to program like a real developer. You need to install the industry standard web developer tool - Chrome and start using its Web Developer Tools aka Chrome Inspector. Real developers and designers use this tool to see, design, twig and debug their websites. Check out the basic steps to set up the JavaScript console in Chrome. You can type any JavaScript commands here and start to interact with a webpage such as Google.com

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Summary

Annual Statement of Information is due April 30, 2016 for the Tax Year 2015 for some corporations. The form is SI-350 for foreign corporations, which is the case for startups incorporated in Delaware and registered as foreign entities in California. It was very easy to file electronically, only took minutes. My initial statement was filed when registered as a foreign entity in California. I just had to check the box where it says no change, and pay an electronic filing fee. By far, the easiest form yet. You may want to provide your email address so that you can receive an electronic copy of the filing and confirmation in a few business days (the formal confirmation isn't immediate). Keep a copy for your record.

Website to file and read more about startup tax - Annual Statement of Information (California)